Dozens of people pulled down metal poles and pummeled concrete blocks with sledge hammers on Thursday to destroy a wall being built to separate an impoverished neighborhood from a well-district on the outskirts of the capital.

Mayor Gustavo Posse of wealthy San Isidro said he pushed for the construction of the 5,250-foot (1,600-meter) -long, 10-foot (3-meter) -high wall to keep thieves from crossing a major avenue separating the two neighborhoods.

But San Fernando Mayor Osvaldo Amieiro called the project "discriminatory" and a court heeded his call on Thursday, ruling to halt construction of what local media call the "Wall of Discord."

Congressional candidate Francisco de Narvaez compared the blocks of concrete being raised to the Berlin Wall — in this case an expression not of political divisions but of class tensions in a growing city where shantytowns spring up alongside wealthy neighborhoods.

"This wall is a way to cause more crime and provoke violence" by creating more resentment, said Buenos Aires province Security Minister Carlos Stornelli. He said crime should be attacked with more policemen, not concrete walls.

Before attackers began pulling down the wall on Wednesday, someone had spray-painted "We are equal" in red across the gray concrete.

Jeffrey Puryear, vice president for social policy at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, DC, said that across Latin American, "the poor are becoming increasingly aware of how unequal their countries are, and increasingly interested in doing something about it."

The global financial crisis that has curtailed nearly half a decade of growth in Argentina and neighboring countries could bring an increase in inequality and provoke more disputes like Buenos Aires' battle of the wall, he said.

"If persistent or worsening inequality increases political unrest, which seems likely, we could see many different responses, including street protests, increasing violence, and more victories by populist political candidates," Puryear wrote The Associated Press in an e-mail.

Miles (kilometers) of walls being built around Rio de Janeiro's biggest slums also have set off protests in Brazil.

State government officials there say they are trying to halt deforestation of the jungle surrounding the metropolis, but some rights groups have suggested the walls are being constructed to segregate the slums from the richer areas of Rio.

The spat in Argentina comes as the country wrestles with a crime rate that has nearly doubled in the past two decades. One in every 32 Argentines reported being a crime victim in 2007, according to the Justice Ministry.